Crimson Tears
by flextronic
Summary: ScottStorm. A simple mission gone wrong causes an Storm to be seriously injured. Scott tries to make it up to her...but something develops in the process...Gets better and better after chapter 1. Please review, please.
1. I am a mutant

Chapter 1: I am a mutant

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the x-men sob

My name is Scott Summers, and I am 24 this year. I may be just another normal guy on the streets, but I am not. I am a mutant.

I am sure that you know all about us. You might pity us, be fascinated with us, or like most of the human race, the Homo sapiens, fear us, the Homo superiors.

I am a mutant, but I am also human, and like all humans my age, I face problems. One of them is, of course, saving the human race against crazy mutants. But the problem I am facing right now is much more severe.

You see, I like this new girl at the mansion called Ororo Munroe. Nice name, right? It's supposed to mean beautiful in some language and I have to say I can't think of any one better suited for it than her.

She is African-American and turns 21 this year. She is tall but not as tall as me. She has mahogany-colored skin and brilliant blue eyes. Although she has just joined, she teaches botany and meteorology, which fits nicely with her powers to control weather.

She is quite shy and seldom speaks to others but she still answers when you call her. She has a wonderful smile that could melt your heart. And, she is really smart too, did I mention that?

She doesn't talk much about her past; I guess she didn't really have a good life, like me. We are kind of close actually. We sit next to each other most of the time during meals and we talk everyday. Actually, I tell my corny jokes (which I never tell to other people) and she pretends to be interested. But we still have fun together.

But one mission changed it all…


	2. My Mistake pt 1

Chapter 2: My mistake

I screwed up big time.

It was supposed to have been a simple mission. A routine check. But it has turned out to be a full-out war.

And it is my entire fault that she was hurt.

Professor X had sent us to check on Arcade, the psychotic playground builder. He had been unusually quiet lately, and the Professor was worried that he was deliberately laying low to throw us off his scent while he cooked up some evil scheme. The Professor believed that he was still in his liar, although as far has I could tell, it had been abandoned.

I weren't really worried, mostly because this will be the third time that we checked up on him.

I was cocky, I was sure that it was just under false alarm.

I underestimated my opponent.

It was the biggest mistake I would ever make.

We arrived at his liar. Me, Bobby, Neal, Kitty, Nightcrawler…

And Ororo.

It was an ugly, modern building that jutted out from a sheer rock wall. It stretched far into the rock wall and was made out of bulletproof metal. It faced a dazzling blue ocean that seemed to stretch out forever and a sandy white beach where tourists were playing and perverts were checking out chicks in bikinis. It was like an alien, it had no place in this tropical paradise. It was like a giant zit on an otherwise perfect face.

We went in, not expecting anything to be out of the ordinary.

It still looked the same as the last time. A thick layer of dust covered everything inside. Cobwebs had formed and the place was dead quiet.

We paired up. Kitty and Neal, Nightcrawler and Bobby, me and Ororo. We walked around his liar, checked out every spot we knew.

Now, before you start judging me, I didn't deliberately pair myself with her; I am a fair leader…

Okay, maybe I did, but only because I was worried about her. It was her first time here and she was claustrophobic. I had told her not to come but she had insisted on doing so. I had tried to get Professor X to persuade her but he had said there was nothing he could do to stop her.

So we searched the rooms together.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked her a few minutes later. We were in a fairly narrow tunnel about 3 meters wide. She was walking right next to me and she was trembling slightly.

"I'll be fine," she said softly, walking a little faster.

The tunnel started to get narrower after about twenty meters. I glanced at Ororo. Her face was pale and she was biting her lower lip. I was really starting to worry about her.

"We could turn back if you want to," I told her.

"I'll be fine," she said, not looking fine at all.

I put my arm, rather awkwardly, around her shoulder. I was afraid that she was going to push me away or blast me with a lightning bolt.

I am happy to report that she didn't do the above two. Quite the opposite, she held onto my other hand.

We walked for about fifty more meters when suddenly, without any warning, the ground underneath us opened up.

We were sliding down a metal tube, with no way to stop…

Heading for whatever horrors that awaited us…


	3. My Mistake pt 2

Chapter 3: My Mistake Pt 2

It was a Wild. E. Coyote moment.

You know, the stupid Coyote would was always trying to catch the Roadrunner but never did? You remember how he would always run off the edge of a cliff, hang in mid-air for a moment, realize what he has just done and plummets to the ground? That's exactly what happened to us.

One moment Ororo and I were walking on solid ground, the next moment we were right over a hole. I had about half a second to think "Oh my god" and then we were falling down a slide.

Ororo was screaming, I was screaming too, so I shouldn't really judge her. I could feel her grip around my arm tighten. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder.

I was really worried. If we smashed into solid ground at this speed, we would break our legs, or die. We certainly wouldn't bounce back right up like Wild. E. Coyote and start chasing the Roadrunner.

Turns out, we didn't hit land. In fact, we didn't hit anything. We shot straight into the air, I looked down and what I saw took my breath away.

Beneath us was an ocean.

I am not kidding, it was really an ocean. There was an ocean in the middle of the building. I have not idea how that could happen. But that wasn't important now, what was important was that Ororo and I was about to hit it in about five seconds.

And Ororo Can. Not. Swim.

Seriously, as graceful as she was on land or in the air, she was like a rock in the water. Although that shouldn't' come as a surprise, she spent most of her life in a desert country, living on the streets and stealing to survive. Learning to swim wasn't exactly high on her to do list.

I just had time to sort of twist our bodies into a sort of vertical position before we hit the water. Hard.

The water was ice cold. I felt my entire body go numb. I couldn't move, I couldn't even feel my fingers. I saw Ororo sinking into the water, her face pale, her eyes white, not a good sign.

I ignored the numb felling and swan as fast as I could to her. I grabbed her around the waist and swam towards the surface. As we got closer and closer to the surface, the water got warmer and warmer, like there was a sun shining on it.

We broke through the surface. I gasped for air and tried to take stock of my surroundings. Ororo was spluttering out water and her eyes still white. She was hugging onto me and she looked as if she was about to cry, or faint, or set off her powers and zap me with lightning. I had to do some damage control, fast.

"Relax, float on your back, I'll hold on to you." I told her, trying my best to comfort her and sound like I know exactly what to do. She did as I said. Her breathing was still heavy but as least she was calming down.

I tried to find the shore, but there was nothing. We were in the middle of nowhere. I suddenly know how a fly in a bowl of soup feels like, and it wasn't a good feeling. I won't be making any lame jokes about this incident anytime soon.

"There's a tunnel in the water," Ororo pointed out. She was more relaxed now and was pointing at a tunnel about 3 meters away. It was underwater and looked pretty long.

"I go check it out, you stay here first." I told her. I started to swim towards the tunnel but I felt something tugging on my belt. I turned around to see Ororo holding onto my belt.

"I'll go with you, it's easier to just make the journey once." She said, her eyes closed, "I hold on to your belt, please do not lose me."

"Okay," I agreed reluctantly, "Give me two squeezes when you run out of air"

I swam into the tunnel, with Ororo holding onto my belt. The tunnel was about as wide as my car. My arms were burning and I could feel my lungs running out of air. I started seeing black spots.

That was when I felt two squeezes around my waist.

Ororo was running out of air.


	4. My Mistake pt 3

Chapter 4: My Mistake pt 3

This was bad.

Okay, that was the understatement of the year. We were in a tunnel underwater, Ororo was running out of air and the end of the tunnel was nowhere in sight. It was more than bad. It was awful, it was terrible, it was catastrophic, it was…Given time I could think of a few hundred other words to describe the situation we were in.

But words won't save us now, the only way we were going to survive this was for me to keep swimming. So I swam like our lives depended to it, which, of course, they did. My arms were burning, my lungs felt like they were about to burst. I believe I broke some kind of swimming record at the speed I was going, but no one was there to take the time and I wasn't about to dwell on that particular issue know. I had more important things to think about, like keeping me and Ororo alive.

I burst through the water, dragging Ororo along with me. I pulled her up to the shore. She spluttered out water, coughing heavily. She was shaking and I realized she was crying. I supposed being almost drowned to death can do that to you. I felt terrible, seeing as I was the person who almost caused her death.

"It's okay, it's over now, you'll be fine." I assured her, patting her on the back, "It's fine now."

Just at that moment, my earpiece crackled and Kitty's voice came through. Her voice was high and full of panic.

"Scott, Storm, get out of there. It's a trap! All of the rest are safe now, we are coming for you. Hang on!" With a final click, the earpiece went dead.

And all hell broke loose.

I heard a thudding sound behind me. Instinctively, I grabbed Ororo and jumped aside. Right at that moment, a beam of laser slammed down on where we had been just moments ago. I felt my hairs stand in their ends. I heart skipped a beat as I realized what had shot out these beams.

I turned around and saw that my worst fears were confirmed. There were 3 Sentinels, their eyes were glowing and smoke was coming out of one of their many cannons.

You know the Sentinels, giant metal robots first designed by Dr. Boliver Trask. They are walking mutant killers. With a variety of weapons concealed in their body, they were the perfect tools to kill mutants with.

And we were now facing 3 of them. 2 against 3, the odds did not look good. If I was a punter I wouldn't be betting on us to win. But no time to think about that now.

For one of them turned its sight on me.

The fight was on.

……………………………………………………………………………………………...

It made the first move.

A shot of liquid nitrogen shot out from the spray nozzle in its eye. I dodged it a fired a blast, aiming at its central processing unit. It blocked the shot with its arm and fired another electron beam from its hand. I pressed myself against the floor and felt the beam pass right above me. I smelled something burning and realized the beam had singed some of my hair. This was getting too close for comfort.

I pushed myself up and fired another shot aimed at its fuel tank. I saw the blast connect and the leg of the Sentinel catch fire. But it still wasn't slowing down. It would take more than a burn to stop this guy.

It twisted around and fired another laser. I jumped aside and shot another blast at the same spot. It legs burst into flames and fell off. Ha! That's one-nil to Scott. But it was down, not defeated. It fired one more blast of liquid nitrogen, but I easily avoided it. I fire three more blasts at its central processing unit and it was down. So that left two more.

I looked at Ororo's direction. She was doing a superb job of fending off the two Sentinels, but I could see that she was tired. She attacks were becoming slower and she was panting. I fired a shot at the Sentinels nearest to me. It turned and focused it attention on me.

I shot three more blasts at it. Its arm exploded and slammed into the Sentinel beside it. It used its remaining good arm to blast me with a plasma beam. I jumped out of the way and fired three more blast. Ororo fired a lightning blast from the back. The Sentinel glowed red and exploded.

That left only one Sentinel. The odds were better now. But we were already tired and the Sentinel was still full-up and ready to do some serious damage.

We fired and the Sentinel fired back. It was turning out to be a long battle. I was panting heavily and Ororo could barely stand. A deep cut ran down her left leg.

That was when it happened. The Sentinel raised its arm and began charging up for an electron beam. I pushed Ororo to the right. It moved its hand left.

But at the last possible moment, it swept its hand towards the right, aiming straight at us. I froze, Ororo didn't. She managed to push me aside.

And the blast hit her at full force.

She was thrown back and slammed into the steel wall. I fired madly at the body of the Sentinel. I didn't care anymore; I just want to see how Ororo was.

The Sentinel went down, but I didn't stop to rest. I rushed towards Ororo. She was lying on the floor, a slab of concrete was on her left leg, pinning her down. Blood trickled down from a deep cut on her forehead. Her abdomen, where the blast had hit at full force, was bleeding heavily. She was barely conscious. I lifted the slab off her leg and saw that it was most certainly broken.

"It me, Scott. Stay wake, please. You'll be fine" I said, trying not to let panic creep into my voice. She stirred and saw me. She started to speak, but no words came out.

"Shh, don't speak. Just stay awake. The rest will be here soon. We get help." I said, using her cape to stop the blood from flowing. The cape was soon stained red, and yet the blood kept spreading.

Her breathing was getting slower and she was shivering. I moved her carefully onto my lap and laid her head on my shoulder. She reached her hand out and squeezed my hand gently. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I probably would have if the rest didn't arrive that that moment.

"The jet's outside. Can you carry her?" Neal asked, wasting no time. I lifted her up and carried her to the X-jet. She was still breathing, but her body temperature was dropping.

We got to the jet as fast as we could, blasting walls and tearing the whole building apart. Jean and Hank were already onboard. They put Ororo onto the bed and began to dress her wounds and stop her blood from flowing.

"Hang in there, Ororo. You'll be fine. You'll get through this. You'll be fine." I said, trying to comfort her, as well as myself.

She gave me a small smile that melted my heart…

And closed her eyes…


	5. The long wait

Chapter 5: The long wait

Her heart stopped beating.

The jet was suddenly silent; the only sound that could be heard was the shrill, straight sound of the machine. It was like everybody into the jet stopped breathing.

Jean was crying. Hank pushed her out of the way and grabbed the defibrillator from the box on the jet. He pressed it against her chest and gave her a jolt. The monitor stayed the same. He repeated the process, a look of desperation on his face. The monitor stayed the same. He tried it again; tears were falling from his face.

This monitor beeped once, and there was a heartbeat.

Everybody breathed, Shadowcat cried, but they were tears of joy. Bobby put his arm around her. I think he was crying too. Nightcrawler was praying and Neal was staring at Ororo, a smile on his face. Jean was back in position, tending to her wounds.

The jet touched down soon after. Ororo was wheeled into the operating room straight away.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Gambit and Slipstream dragged me to the bathroom to bathe because I had sat outside the operating room for three hours. My uniform was covered with Ororo's blood, and I felt a lump rise in my throat as I thought about her. I bathed and changed into a black shirt and jeans and rushed back down to the waiting room in ten minutes.

She was still in the operating room. She had been inside for four hours now. Jean, Hank and Sean were in there while almost everyone at the mansion was in the waiting room. Almost everybody was crying, some looked like they were in shock. I just sat there, staring through the glass and into the operating room.

There operation went on for another ten hours. Jean had chased everyone back into their rooms. Nobody wanted to leave, but Jean telekinetically forced them out. I stayed on though, Jean didn't force me out and the rest didn't object. I think they knew I had to be with her.

I didn't sleep for the whole night. The operation dragged on into the night. It had been going on for fifteen hours now.

Finally Jean came out, "The operation was a success, but she is still under sedation. She should wake up in 24 hours. Do you want to go in?"

I nodded and rushed in.

She was surrounded and attached to various machines around her bed. She was still unconscious but she looked great. Again, another understatement of the year.

I sat down on the chair beside her bed and held her hand. Ok, I admit, I didn't know what to do. So I just sort of held her hand.

I guess I must have dozed off because I remember dreaming about giant toys chasing me. It's a stupid recurring nightmare I had since I was a kid. Expect that this time instead of teddies bears chasing me, Sentinels were chasing me. Instead of me running alone, I was an unconscious Ororo. I was running as fast as my legs could carry me. Suddenly, I felt Ororo moving…

Wait, that last part wasn't a dream, I was suddenly wide awake

Ororo was awake, her eyes were staring at me and there was a small smile on her face

And she whispered to me,

"I'm glad you're okay"


	6. It was worth it

Whoa…

Wait a minute…

What did she just say?

Let me go back to what she just said…

She had been blasted by a Sentinel because of me, her heart had stopped once, she had been through a fifteen-hour-long operation, had been unconscious for another twenty-four hours, wakes up, and the first thing she says is to ask if I was okay?

I have to sort out this mess

"I'm sorry, I really am." I said sincerely.

"For what?" she asked

"For…causing you to get hurt" I said, I didn't dare to look at her straight in the eye.

"It wasn't your fault" she said, holding my hand a little tighter.

Of course it was my fault; she had blocked the blow for me while I sat there like an idiot. She could have gotten killed, she almost _did_ get killed.

"Why did you do that for me? You could have died." I asked, I had been wondering about that all this time.

"It was worth it." She said simply. She briefly closed her eyes and I could tell that she was in pain. I decided that this was not the best time to argue with her.

"Have a good rest then, I come again tomorrow." I said and got up to leave. Then I realized that she was still holding on to my hand. I blushed and quickly hope that she didn't see my face go red. That wouldn't have been cool.

"Please, stay for a while." She asked, looking at me, as if expecting me to turn her down.

Of course I wouldn't turn her down, she had just saved me life, even if she didn't I would have been more happy to spend more time with her.

"Sure, as long as you want me to." I said, sitting down on the chair.

"Thanks" she replied and smiled.

So I sat there while she rested.

She fell asleep pretty quickly, which wasn't a big surprise. She had been through a lot since yesterday.

But I wasn't ready for the nightmares.

She shifted in her sleep, just a bit, but then she began to bite her lip and her hand held mine more tightly than before.

A bolt of lightning flashed across. This was not good. The weatherman had predicated fair weather tonight. He might wear a stupid suit and a stupid tie, but he is usually accurate about the weather.

"Hey, Ororo, wake up." I said, shaking her gently.

She didn't. She just grabbed my hand more tightly. It was now raining heavily outside, in another few more minutes and her garden would become flooded.

"Ororo, wake up! You are flooding the garden." I said frantically. She loved her garden, that should get her attention.

It didn't. If anything, the weather outside got worse. I held her hand tightly. But then I felt a jolt, her body was crackling with electricity. It was now getting quite painful to hold her, but that was not that important thing, the important thing was waking Ororo up before the winds she was causing huffed and puffed and blew the mansion down.

"Ororo, I 'm Scott, you have to wake up now." I shouted over the noise caused by the storm. The storm outside had grown into a full hurricane. The trees were swaying as if dancing to a crazy disco tune and I swear that the mansion was shaking.

Her eyes snapped open. They were totally white. I was afraid she was going fry me into a fritter . My hand was now numb from of the static. I closed my eyes and prayed. I am not a normally religious person, but people turn religious all of a sudden when they are facing death.

"I'm Scott, you going to be fine, calm down." I said. She hadn't decided to blast me yet and I took that as a good sign. Her grip on my hand slightly loosened and the storm outside started to die down.

Her eyes started to revert to their normal crystal blue and I could feel the static in my hand fading away. This was good, she was calming down, maybe I should get a job as a therapist. But that's not the point.

"Scott?" she said. She recognized me, that's a good thing. I just hoped that she didn't decide to blast me through the door anyway.

"I' m sorry…" she said, she was crying now. I have never seen her cry until the day before when she almost drowned, and even then, she only shed a few tears.

"It's okay, it's okay. Don't cry. I don't know what to do when girls cry." I said, my voice high and a bit shrill. It always gets when I am nervous or embarrassed. Awkwardly, I wiped her tears with a piece of tissue paper.

She smiled; I don't know if she was feeling better or laughing at me. But she was smiling, so that's good.

"You can leave if you want to." She said. Right, like there was any chance that I would leave her alone when she was injured. I would never do that to her.

"I'll stay, unless you chase me out." I said, putting on a kind of hurt look which, judging by her laugh, failed miserably. I probably looked like I had a stomachache.

"Thanks." She replied.

I sat down to the chair and held her hand. I rested my other hand on the top of her head. She smiled and closed her eyes.

"Sleep tight." I whispered, "Don't let the bedbugs bite." Fine, it was a totally stupid thing to say, it is what mothers said to thier child when they tucked them into bed. I remembered wishing that someone would say that to me while I was living on the streets as it showed there cared about me. I think Ororo felt the same way after her parents died.

She gave me a smile a closed her eyes.

And finally, she had a good sleep.

And that was all that mattered to me.


	7. Would you like to try?

Note: Sorry for not uploading for such a long time! I have been really busy with schoolwork (I swear there is a conspiracy between schools and theaters to show all the good movies when we are being buried alive by homework). Anyway, enough, here's the next chapter. Enjoy (and review)!

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Chapter 7 : Would you like to try?

For the next few weeks, my life revolved around the Ororo's ward. I went day during every break I had, I rushed down to the ward. I only planned my lesson at night after she had fallen asleep. Weekends were spent talking to her.

Oh, yeah. We talked a lot.

I know it sounds strange, seeing that both of us are not known for our eloquence. In fact, when she first came, I thought she was mute and spent a few weeks communicating with her through sign language, waving my hand wildly and she finally said, "My name is Ororo".

Those were the first words she spoke to me, and our relationship developed from there. I taught her English while taught her Swahili. I have to admit she has had much more success in learning English than I had in learning Swahili. She can now speak English fluently while the only Swahili I know is "how are you?" "Hello" and "Goodbye".

Anyway, back to the topic. We just talked about life, hobbies, dreams…

And our childhood.

It something I have never talked to anyone else about, and I don't believe she has either. It something we both avoided mentioning altogether, because no one else will understand what we went through.

But we could talk to each other about it, it was strange at first, but it was nice to just let out all the pent up secrets inside you.

Today was the fourth week since she was injured.

Today was also her birthday. And I had no idea what to get for her.

I know, I'm a moron.

I went into the ward. She was propped up with a pillow, Jean was changing her bandages.

"Sorry, I'll come back later" I said, closing the door.

"You can stay, it almost done." Ororo said, wincing a little as Jean continued re-dressing her wounds.

"Done," Jean said, finishing up the last snitches and left.

"Hi" I said, sitting on the seat where Jean had been on moments ago.

"Hi" she said, sounding a little sad.

"It's a beautiful day" I said, trying to engage her into a conversation.

"Yes, it is." She said, gazing wistfully at the gardens through the window.

An idea struck me.

"Hey, do you want to go outside?" I asked her.

"But… I can't walk yet, and there's no wheelchair in the mansion." She said, sounding dejected.

"I'll carry you." I said, looking at her, wishing she would say yes.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Are you sure you're not tired?" Ororo asked me. We were only halfway in the lounge, on our way to the gardens.

She had her hands wrapped around my neck while I carried her. It felt kind of good. Weird. But good.

"We have just been out for five minutes." I laughed.

"If you are tired we could turn back. I don't mind." she said nervously.

"I really not tired, don't worry. You're not that heavy." I said and continued walking towards the garden.

We reached the garden soon, which was a good thing because she kept asking me if I was tired.

But when she reached the garden, she stopped.

I think she really missed the gardens.

"Did you take care of the plants?" she asked, gazing up at me.

"Yeah, the rest helped too. We each took care of a part of the garden." I said, "I didn't want you to be upset if the plants died."

She looked at me, her eyes a little teary. Why does it seem like she has been crying a lot lately?

"You don't like it?" I asked worriedly.

"No," she shook her head, "It's beautiful."

"Well then, you want to rest for a while first?" I asked her.

"Okay"

We sat down at a stone bench underneath a large elm tree. I sat on one side while she laid down to the bench. As she was too tall, she had to place her head on my arm.

"You miss the garden, don't you?" I asked her.

"Yes," she nodded her head, "I haven't been able to come out since…"

"I'm sorry" I apologized, "I really am."

"No, I didn't mean it that way," she shifted into a more comfortable position, "I don't regret it, I'll do it all over again if I have to."

I felt tears in my eyes and looked away, biting my lip and trying not to let my feelings show.

"We should get going. It's getting late" I said, carrying her up again.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

It was already in the evening when we reach her room again. I put her down again.

And kissed her on the lips.

I didn't plan to do it, honestly! It just …happened! It was on the spur of the moment. I was just a kiss on the lips. No tougue, no nothing!

But that did not stop my face from turning bright red. I am sure she would have seen it. I wouldn't even be surprised if a person standing in the gardens could see it.

Ororo looked up at my, her expression between a puzzled look and a shocked look.

She spoke first, I was still frozen in shock and horror of what I had done.

"I've never kiss a guy before." She said.

Great. I had taken away her first kiss. Any moment now she would be giving me my first electric shock.

"Oh…" I mumbled.

"I think you're…not bad." She said, blushing a little.

She thinks I am not a bad kisser? Inside I did a somersault and a back flip. I felt like I was on cloud nine.

"Really?" I asked, trying not to grin too widely and look like an idiot.

"Yes." She smiled and blushed more.

"Well then, you want to try again?" I asked, grinning.

"Sure"

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Sorry if this chapter seems a little long-winded, next chapter we be moving into the main story, with Arcade and other characters.


End file.
